No More Learning

[Exit.


SCENE II. -- A street in Salem Village. Enter MATHER and
HATHORNE.

MATHER.
Yet one thing troubles me.

HATHORNE.
And what is that?

MATHER.
May not the Devil take the outward shape
Of innocent persons? Are we not in danger,
Perhaps, of punishing some who are not guilty?

HATHORNE.
As I have said, we do not trust alone
To spectral evidence.

MATHER.
And then again,
If any shall be put to death for Witchcraft,
We do but kill the body, not the soul.
The Unclean Spirits that possessed them once
Live still, to enter into other bodies.
What have we gained? Surely, there's nothing gained.

HATHORNE.
Doth not the Scripture say, "Thou shalt not suffer
A Witch to live"?

MATHER.
The Scripture sayeth it,
But speaketh to the Jews; and we are Christians.
What say the laws of England?

HATHORNE.
They make Witchcraft
Felony without the benefit of Clergy.
Witches are burned in England. You have read--
For you read all things, not a book escapes you--
The famous Demonology of King James?

MATHER.
A curious volume. I remember also
The plot of the Two Hundred, with one Fian,
The Registrar of the Devil, at their head,
To drown his Majesty on his return
From Denmark; how they sailed in sieves or riddles
Unto North Berwick Kirk in Lothian,
And, landing there, danced hand in hand, and sang,
"Goodwife, go ye before! good wife, go ye!